Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The committee met at 0901 in committee room 2.

Ottawa School Day Nursery Inc. Act, 2015

Consideration of the following bill:

Bill Pr14, An Act to revive Ottawa School Day Nursery Inc.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): The Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills will now come to order. This morning we have two private bills to consider, and we’re going to start with Bill Pr14, An Act to revive Ottawa School Day Nursery Inc. If I could ask the sponsor, MPP McGarry I believe, and the applicant, Diane O’Neill, to please come to the front and take their seats.

Mrs. Kathryn McGarry: Good morning.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Good morning. MPP McGarry, I understand you’re the sponsor of this bill. If you can also let us know if you have any comments that you’d like to make on this?

Mrs. Kathryn McGarry: No. I have brought Bill Pr14 forward on behalf of MPP John Fraser. I can introduce Diane.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Diane O’Neill, you’re the applicant. Good to meet you.

Ms. Diane O’Neill: Thank you.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): If you want to have a few moments to speak, please go ahead.

Ms. Diane O’Neill: OSDN was formed about 15 years ago—or actually about 18 years ago now. It had 14 sites in the public school board. When the government came through with Schools First, we made a conscious decision, as a board of directors, to hand over our programs, along with our children and our staff, to the school board and close down our business. We gave up our charter in February 2014, and then found out that we did not receive our GST rebate cheque at that point. The CRA said that we would not be getting it because we were no longer in existence.

Therefore, we’d really like to revive our charter and receive the GST rebate. We had a foundation. We will put this money into the foundation that is with the school board. The foundation is used for ECE training and workshops, and also for extra programming for the children in our programs—or what used to be our programs. That’s why we want to do it.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Okay, thank you, Ms. O’Neill. I’m going to see if there are any interested parties in the room that would like to make a comment. Are there any interested parties in the room?

Okay, so let’s continue, then. Comments from government or committee members? Comments from government? Okay. Comments from committee members? MPP French.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: Just a question: When you said that you had a foundation that you will be putting this into, there’s still a clear path to do that if, as you say, you “had a foundation”?

Ms. Diane O’Neill: Well, because we’re not in existence, the foundation is being held by the school board, but on very, very strict parameters. We negotiated exactly what this foundation was to be used for.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: So the GST rebate, then, is—

Ms. Diane O’Neill: It will go right into there.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: And is there a mechanism in place to ensure that that is—

Ms. Diane O’Neill: Yes, there is.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: Thank you.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Any questions from committee members? All right. Are we ready to vote, then? Are the members ready to vote? Okay, great. We are considering Bill Pr14, An Act to revive Ottawa School Day Nursery Inc. Just so everybody knows, the piece of—

Interjection.

Mr. Bill Walker: Just a keener.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): You’re just a bit of a keener, MPP Walker.

So let’s take it section by section.

Shall section 1 of Bill Pr14 carry? Carried.

Shall section 2 of Bill Pr14 carry? Carried.

Shall section 3 carry? Carried.

Shall the preamble carry? Carried.

Shall the title carry? Carried.

Shall the bill carry? Carried.

Shall I report the bill to the House? Okay. Thank you.

Centre for International Governance Innovation Act (Tax Relief), 2015

Consideration of the following bill:

Bill Pr18, An Act respecting The Centre for International Governance Innovation.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Okay, I’d—oh, you’re already there. Good. Right now, we are considering Bill Pr18, An Act respecting The Centre for International Governance Innovation. I understand that the sponsor is MPP Fife and the applicant is Aaron Shull, the corporate counsel.

Mr. Aaron Shull: That’s correct.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): If you don’t mind, I’m going to ask the sponsor actually just to introduce herself and make any comments that she’d like to make. MPP Fife.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Good morning, Chair and committee. Before you, you have—really, this is a long-standing issue in our riding. Former MPP Witmer brought forward this exemption back in 2006 for CIGI. CIGI has built a new building and they’re just moving, really, up the street. They have had the exemption from taxation for that period of time.

I think it’s worth noting that the city of Waterloo—it’s the last page in your package—has pointed out that the property that CIGI is moving to is currently exempt from taxation, so no taxes will be lost from this endeavour. But it is also their understanding from discussions with CIGI staff that the former location, 57 Erb Street, will be rented out to commercial tenants—it’s a highly sought-after location—and that that activity would be deemed taxable, depending on MPAC assessment.

CIGI is a well-respected organization in the community. They do some very amazing work, globally recognized. We’re very proud that they are downtown. Actually, we call it uptown, because some people are a little pretentious in Waterloo. So they’re applying for the exemption.

Is there anything else that you would like to add, Aaron?

Mr. Aaron Shull: No.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Does the applicant have any comments you’d like to make?

Mr. Aaron Shull: Well, it’s just a privilege and an honour to be here, Madam Chair and committee members. I’m happy to answer any questions the committee has about CIGI, but MPP Fife has done an excellent job of describing the situation.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Great. I’m going to ask if there are any interested parties that have any comments to make. It doesn’t appear so, so we’re going to move to comments from the government or—

Ms. Ann Hoggarth: Sorry. I had my hand up.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Go ahead, MPP Hoggarth.

Ms. Ann Hoggarth: I just wanted to make sure: The city of Waterloo is on track with this? They are in favour of this, as this letter says that they are?

Mr. Aaron Shull: That’s correct.

Ms. Ann Hoggarth: Okay. Thank you.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Any other questions or comments from committee members? MPP McGarry.

Mrs. Kathryn McGarry: Thank you. I would be supportive of this. Recently—actually, on March 27—I had the opportunity to tour CIGI and go to the lecture at noon hour with everybody. We also had a round table that day on climate change, and I think the IQ in the room was incredible. It was an incredible tour that day to see what CIGI actually offers, not only the community, but Ontario. It was a very impressive facility. It was impressive the way it has been run. I think it’s really been a jewel in Waterloo region, so thank you for coming today. I was really impressed with it.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Thank you very much.

The Chair (Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris): Further comments or questions from committee members? Okay. Are we ready to vote? Great. We are now considering Bill Pr18, An Act respecting The Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Shall section 1 carry? Carried.

Shall section 2 carry? Carried.

Shall section 3 carry? Carried.

Shall section 4 carry? Carried.

Shall section 5 carry? Carried.

Shall section 6 carry? Carried.

Shall the preamble carry? Carried.

Shall the title carry? Carried.

Shall the bill carry? Carried.

Shall I report the bill to the House? Carried, yes.

I believe that is everything that we will be considering today. Thank you very much, everyone, for coming in, and thanks to the sponsors and applicants. I will adjourn this meeting.

The committee adjourned at 0911.

CONTENTS

Wednesday 6 May 2015

Ottawa School Day Nursery Inc. Act, 2014, Bill Pr14, Mr. Fraser T-57

Mrs. Kathryn McGarry, MPP

Ms. Diane O’Neill

Centre for International Governance Innovation Act (Tax Relief), 2015, Bill Pr18, Ms. Fife T-58

Ms. Catherine Fife, MPP

Mr. Aaron Shull

STANDING COMMITTEE ON REGULATIONS AND PRIVATE BILLS

Chair / Présidente

Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris (Halton L)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

Mrs. Kathryn McGarry (Cambridge L)

Mr. Robert Bailey (Sarnia–Lambton PC)

Mr. Lorenzo Berardinetti (Scarborough Southwest / Scarborough-Sud-Ouest L)

Ms. Jennifer K. French (Oshawa ND)

Mr. Monte Kwinter (York Centre / York-Centre L)

Mrs. Amrit Mangat (Mississauga–Brampton South / Mississauga–Brampton-Sud L)

Mrs. Kathryn McGarry (Cambridge L)

Ms. Indira Naidoo-Harris (Halton L)

Ms. Daiene Vernile (Kitchener Centre / Kitchener-Centre L)

Mr. Bill Walker (Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Toby Barrett (Haldimand–Norfolk PC)

Mr. Grant Crack (Glengarry–Prescott–Russell L)

Ms. Ann Hoggarth (Barrie L)

Clerk / Greffière par intérim

Ms. Tamara Pomanski

Staff / Personnel

Jennifer Gold, legislative counsel